Competing Smarter

The Indianapolis region is becoming more bicycle friendly as the city plans to add an additional 30 miles of on-street bike lanes over the next two years.

A recent Indianapolis Star newspaper article reported that the city is planning on restriping and widening several streets throughout Indianapolis to add bike lanes.

Streets being restriped to accommodate bicyclists include:
 

• 13-mile stretch of Lafayette Road to Downtown area
• All of Lafayette Road
• Most of Allisonville Road inside of I-465
• Capital Avenue and Illinois Street from Downtown to Westfield Boulevard
• Portions of East Street and Southeastern Avenue
• Stretch of Broad Ripple Avenue between the Monon Trail and Keystone Avenue.

The Indianapolis region has many other accommodations for cyclists, such as the bicycle and pedestrian only Monon Trail and the Indianapolis Cultural Trail.

The Monon Trail, which extends 16.7 miles from the town of Westfield just north of Indianapolis to Downtown Indianapolis has been serving the region since 1999. The Monon Trail serves an estimated 4,000 people a day.

Indianapolis is also in the process of finishing the Indianapolis Cultural Trail, an 8-mile biking and pedestrian trail designed to run throughout the downtown Indianapolis area. The trail is scheduled to be completed in early 2012, just in time for the city to host Super Bowl XLVI.

The Cultural Trail will connect to the Monon, as well as connect to the five cultural districts of Downtown:
 

• Massachusetts Avenue
• Fountain Square
• Indiana Avenue
• Canal and White River State Park
• Wholesale District

The trail is estimated to generate a total economic benefit of $800 million as well as create over 10,000 jobs through its construction, private-sector investment along the trail and an expansion of tourism.